That Most Lonely Thing
by Person4
Summary: When Harry's house is almost attacked by Death Eaters he moves into the Leaky Cauldron. With no rooms vacant, he's forced to room with the most unlikely person.
1. I Knew a Phoenix in My Youth

That Most Lonely Thing  
Chapter One  
  
I own nothing. I'm just playing for a while.  
  
-------  
  
Looking back on it later, Harry had to admit that it was quick probably the best possible moment the Death Eaters could have chosen to attack. It was Vernon and Petunia's anniversary, and they were out having dinner at The Ivy, and weren't expected back until late. They'd tried to get a sitter, but all the usuals were busy, and the girl they'd gotten instead was a year or two younger then Harry, had laughed herself sick when she saw him and Dudley, and then had left. So, unwilling to cancel their dinner, they'd told Dudley to watch Harry, and left. Five minutes later Dudley was out the door, as Piers called with news of a new video game he'd gotten.  
  
So it was that Harry was completely alone in the dark house when he happened to glance out his window and notice a death eater stumble into the light from a street lamp for a brief moment before pulling himself back into the concealing shadows.  
  
For a moment Harry froze, sheer terror rooting him to the spot. However, during the past school year his professors had ground into him the importance of not letting himself be ruled by his fear if this moment ever came, and it was that training that made his body move, letting Hedwig out of her cage and reaching for a muggle backpack Sirius had given him in case of just such an occasion even before his mind had yet started thinking again.  
  
His eyes darted around the room, taking in it's contents. He couldn't trust that any of this would still be here after this night, and he had only moments to sort out which items meant the most to him. Into the bag went the photo album of his parents, followed by a bundle of all the letters his friends had ever sent him and the Marauder's Map, which Dumbledore had kindly returned to him the year before, after taking the time to carefully copy out all the information on it. Two clean robes, the money pouch he carefully kept hidden, and-- with a small groan-- the homework he'd managed to get done so far went in the bag, and that was it.  
  
All this was done within just over a minute, and then he glanced outside and carefully examined the shadows, making out the vague forms of Death Eaters, apparently waiting for someone. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not.  
  
He dragged his Firebolt and invisibility cloak out from where they were hidden under his bed, wincing slightly when he noticed quite a few bent twigs, but not allowing himself to dwell on it. He let it fall forward to float in the air, and then nabbed Hedwig and settled down on it, carefully draping them both in the long cloak, then wrapping it tightly around the bottom of the broom, and sitting on the ends to make sure that he would neither be seen from below, nor accidentally end up trailing the ends straight into someone. For a moment Hedwig glared at him reproachfully, but she obviously could tell this was important, and didn't make a sound.  
  
The broom rose sluggishly due to the confining material, but he didn't care about speed at the moment. He slowly went through his door and down the hall, to where a trapdoor in the ceiling lead to the attic. It was a bit tricky opening it without disturbing the cloak, and even more so to close it behind him, but he managed. There was a window set into the roof up here, one that wouldn't be visible to those on the lawn when it opened. He sent a brief, fervent prayer to whatever god might be listening that they wouldn't be intelligent enough to have anyone on broomsticks hovering over the house, since the window being pushed open would be visible from above, then pushed through into the open air.  
  
He expected at any moment to hear someone cry out, to have them point him out to the group, but his fears proved groundless. It was almost ridiculous how easy it was to escape them. These were the loathsome Death Eaters? The men whose possible coming had haunted his nightmares for over a year, ever since the night of the third task? He almost laughed, except he knew that in truth it was only luck that had allowed him such an easy getaway. If that man, whoever it was, hadn't had the misfortune of tripping exactly within his line of sight at the exact moment he happened the get frustrated and glance up from the potions homework he'd been doing, they would have had him. Judging by how excruciating slowly the broom was moving without the touch of the wind to speed it along they still might. He knew full well that if the cloak fell in exactly the right (or should he say wrong) way it would become the tiniest bit reflective. It would be barely a shimmer in the air, but once they went in and found him gone it might be enough.  
  
He supposed he should just be grateful it wasn't raining.  
  
It had been almost 10 minutes, but he was only two blocks away. Damn! He'd know that the wind through a broom's twigs was supposed very important for getting up a decent amount of speed, but he'd no idea how much. His poor broom, which he was used to having be capable of flying at over 100 miles per hour was now moving at a crawl.  
  
"All right," he whispered to Hedwig, "we aren't getting anywhere like this. I know you don't like this, but just stay under the cloak a little longer, okay?"  
  
She gave a soft, accepting hoot, and he steered the broom downward. Thankfully it moved a lot faster down then it had forward, and a few minutes later he landed safely on the ground in a small alley, and stuck out his wand hand.  
  
As the Knight Bus pulled up in front of him and Stan's friendly face appeared in the door the tense panicky feeling that had oozing around in his stomach began to settle. He would be safe here, he was sure of it. And, thankfully, no one else seemed to be onboard so he should be able to get away quickly. He pushed off the cloak, and moved to get on.  
  
"Why Ernie, look! It's our ol' friend Neville Longbottom!" Stan exclaimed loudly as he helped him up, winking at him about as much subtlety as an elephant's behind. It was a good thing there wasn't anyone else there, or his cover would be blown wide open in second.  
  
"Er, hi Stan. Ernie." Harry replied, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no black clad figures were materializing in the deep shadows of the alleyway. He was thinking now, quickly, and the one thing that his mind latched onto and refused to let go of was his family. If he'd been asked just a few hours before he would have said they deserved whatever they got but now, with Death Eaters lurking just outside their door and them defenceless against them, he couldn't just turn his back. He knew from past experience that Dudley wouldn't come home until his parent's called Piers' house and told him to do so. On the other hand, while he expected his aunt and uncle to stay out late, there was always the chance something would upset them and drive them home early. "Can we go to The Ivy?" he asked them.  
  
Ernie pulled out something that looked like a small Rolodex, though as he quickly turned the wheel on the side Harry realised that there were many more cards in it then a muggle one would hold. After a moment he looked up. "The muggle restaurant, or the hospital?" he asked.  
  
"The restaurant please."  
  
"All right then." Stan read one of the cards over Ernie's shoulder, then grinned at Harry. "That'll be 10 sickles, 18 knuts Neville. Won't be so long that you'll need a water bottle and toothbrush I expect, but would you like a cup of hot chocolate?"  
  
"No, but... I'm just going to be in there for a minute, and then I'll need to go somewhere else, if that's all right. I'm not sure where yet...." He frowned as he handed over the fare, "Well, I'm sure I'll decide by the time I need to tell you."  
  
Harry settled down on one of the beds and stared out the window at the scenery as it began to whiz by, all but ignoring Stan's attempts to make conversation. They'd sat in the alley a long time, way to long. He knew he should have made them start moving right away, but doing so would mean telling them why it was so important to get moving, and he didn't want to make them panic. He took the fact that the bus wasn't immediately hailed to be a good sign, almost fully relaxed, now mulling over where he'd go after this.  
  
The Burrow were the first place that came to mind of course. However, almost as soon as the idea entered his mind, it was dismissed. That was the first place any Death Eater who knew even the slightest thing about him would look. He needed somewhere where he would be public enough to draw attention away from them, but at the same time protected. Hogwart's would probably fit the bill perfectly, but, as much as he liked Dumbledore school, it had only let out three weeks ago. He really didn't feel like wandering around the building when it was devoid of everyone except the teachers and ghosts for the majority of the summer. Hogsmeade would have been perfect, if only there was an inn in the place. He supposed he could stay in Sirus' cave at night and wander around the town during the day, which had the added bonus that when his godfather found out he might possibly come back and stay their too if he wasn't needed elsewhere. However, sleeping in a cave all summer was almost as unappealing as the idea of staying at Hogwarts, and the only thing that made it an 'almost' instead of an 'a hell of a lot worse then' was that slight probability of spending time with Sirius, which more then likely wouldn't even happen.  
  
Which brought him to the place he knew from the beginning he'd probably end up at. The Leaky Cauldron. He'd be safe as houses there, and he did need to go to Diagon Alley anyway to report the Death Eaters to the auror's that were on Dumbledore's side. He knew he had to go there, and he knew from experience that it was a good place to while away the summer hours. But... he really wanted to be around someone friendly. Even though he'd relaxed in the presence of Stan and Ernie, he knew that the fear had just retreated for the moment, and would return when he was alone again. He wanted one of his friends. He didn't want to be alone.   
  
Suddenly he remembered the one person who might be around when he got there. He admittedly wouldn't have been Harry's first choice, he wouldn't even have been in the top ten, but he was still a friend. And Harry would probably be able to hunt him down at this time of night, if what Ron had told him was true.  
  
"Neville, we're here."  
  
Harry stood up at Stan's words. "Could you wait here for a few minutes?" he asked the wizards.  
  
"Sure Neville, as long as no one else summons us. An if they do, you know how to get in touch with us."  
  
"Alright, thanks." Harry slowly trudged away from the bus, glaring at the building as if hoping it might take offence and leave before he could get there. Sadly, it remained just as static as ever, and soon he was through the doors and in front of the podium. "Hello?" he said to the waitress there.  
  
She looked him over, taking in his shapeless castoffs and messy hair, and her nose wrinkled slightly, "Yes?"  
  
"My aunt and uncle are here, and there's an emergency at home I need to tell them about. Could you get them. Please?"  
  
"Name?" the woman said as she glanced down at a reservation book. She sounded bored.  
  
"Vernon Dursley. I think their reservation was for seven o'clock."  
  
"Hmm, yes, here it is. Wait here." She went and briefly talked another staff member, then came back to the podium, ignoring him.   
  
He glanced around, wondering if he'd see anyone famous. He'd gathered from the things he'd heard his aunt say while talking with friends about that night that stars tended to eat here. Of course, he realised while glancing from unfamiliar face to unfamiliar face, it wasn't as though he actually could recognise many people who were famous in the muggle world. His aunt and uncle rarely allowed him to watch the television for longer then brief glimpses when passing through the room, and he certainly never got to go to the movies or anything like that. Of course, with everyone else also looking around from celebrities, it was nice that for one his scar didn't draw the attention of everyone in the area.  
  
"What are _you_ doing here?" His arms was grabbed roughly from behind, and he was jerked around to face his uncle Vernon. The man's eyes were narrowed, and his nostrils slightly flared, though he was managing to keep his tone low, at least remaining aware enough of their surroundings to not start shouting.  
  
"Look, I came to warn you. There're Death Eaters... really evil wizards swarming the house, and--"  
  
"_WHA--_" His uncle was quickly turning an unappealing shade of red.  
  
"Look, shut up and listen to me for two seconds of your bloody life! I don't have to be here you know, I could have let you go home and die, so you could at least listen to what I have to say!" Harry's face had hardened, and for the first time ever he faced Vernon not as the boy who was always terrified somewhere deep inside about setting a foot out of line in front of his uncle, but instead as the young man who was saviour of the wizarding world. The Harry Potter who'd survived the killing curse to face Voldemort again and again, never once falling; who had killed a man when he was only eleven years old. In the face of this Harry Vernon, a coward at heart like many bullies are, did what in the past he would have thought unthinkable, and shut the hell up. Harry nodded, pleased at this small victory. He continued speaking in a tone he hoped was too quiet for anyone else to overhear him, "Good. Dudley is at Piers' house, he'll still be there when you get there. Get a hotel room for the night, don't even drive past the house until you get an all clear. I'll tell the aurors, they're like policemen, to go check things out. When they tell me it's all right, I'll write you. And don't worry, I'm not coming back."  
  
He turned and walked out the door, ignoring the curious looks the restaurant's patrons were giving him, and the angry noises Vernon was making behind him. It wasn't until he'd collapsed onto his bed in the night bus that he realised that he was shaking slightly. A slightly hysterical laugh escaped him as it fully hit him what he'd just done. He really hoped that Dumbledore wouldn't just turn him right around and send him home when he figured out where he was, because there was no way he'd be let back into that house.  
  
"You all right Neville?" Stan asked him, obviously concerned by Harry's odd behaviour.  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm just fine. Um, The Ministry of Magic in Diagon Alley now, please."  
  
"Sure, that'll be another four sickles. Here," S pressed a mug of hot chocolate into Harry's hand. "On the house. You look like you could use something warm in you."  
  
"Oh. Thanks." He took a long drink of the chocolate, glad that the hard part was all over. Hopefully he'd be safe for the rest of the summer. If Fudge had thought the Leaky Cauldron was safe from Sirius, who he'd believed powerful enough to blow up all those muggles, then hopefully it would also be safe from Voldemort's men.   
  
He finished off the chocolate and lie back on the bed, trying to doze some on the ride. He must have been more tired then he'd thought and actually fallen asleep, because it seemed as though just seconds had passed before Stan was shaking him awake. "We're here Neville."  
  
"Huh? Oh, thanks. I'll see you again sometime." He jumped down the small set of stairs, gave them a wave good-bye, and walked into the Ministry building. He knew how to get where he needed to be, Mrs. Weasley had had some business there the year before when he and Ron were school shopping, and Arthur had shown him around. Now he just had to hope he remembered his way correctly.  
  
He turned left once inside, but didn't even get as far as the hall branching off from the lobby before a receptionist jumped up and stopped him. "Can I help you sir?"  
  
"No thank you, I know where I'm going." It looked like she was going to stop him, but then she noticed the scar on his forehead and stilled, mouth hanging open. Well, that was a bit of luck.   
  
Second right off the hall, and no one was paying any attention to him anymore because everyone knew that no one who wasn't supposed to be there would get past the first desk. Left at the picture of some goblin, then up two flights of stairs. Then straight to the hideous statue of the ministry's founder, and the second door on the left past it. He read the nameplate and smiled slightly, his memory hadn't let him down.   
  
"Come in!" a voice on the other side of the door called out at his knock. He swung open the door slowly, and from behind his desk Percy blinked at him confusedly. "Harry? What're you doing here?" Then he seemed to remember his manners, and gestured to the chair across from him. "Please, have a seat."  
  
Harry slumped down in the uncomfortable office chair, feeling safe for the first time since he'd seen the black-cloaked figure from his window. If there was one place he was safe from Voldemort's forces it was in the middle of the Ministry building. Even whatever spies he had in it wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything _here_. "'lo Percy," he said, a weary smile playing across his lips.  
  
Percy was studying him carefully, and was looking more concerned by the second. Finally he stood up, and walked around the desk to sit in the chair next to Harry's. He hesitated for a moment, before settling a hand on Harry's shoulder, the way he would if it were one of his younger brothers coming to him with a problem. "What's the matter?"  
  
Harry blinked at him stupidly for a second. Percy's voice was warm and concerned, completely free of it's normal pompous, know-it-all tone. He'd only heard Percy sound like this once or twice, generally directed toward Ginny. It was a strange change. "Death Eaters came to my house tonight."  
  
Percy stiffened. "When? How many? What did they do?"  
  
"It was about an hour ago. I could only see four of them from my window, but I bet there were more. One of them tripped or something, stumbled under the streetlight for a second. I didn't wait to see what they were up to after that, I just grabbed anything I wanted to keep and escaped through a window in the roof. Then I got on the Knight Bus once I was a few streets away. They took me to the restaurant my uncle and aunt were eating at, so they know not to go home, and then I came here."  
  
"So, you're alright?"  
  
"I'm fine. _Really._ The bristles of my broom might be a little the worse for wear after having to fly with a cloak tangled around them, but that's the worst that might have happened." Then he frowned, brow furrowing. "Unless my cousin decided to go home early for once in his life. But I'm sure that didn't happen."  
  
Percy abruptly stood up, and brushed himself off. "Right," he said. "We're going down to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement this instant and informing the auror on duty about this. You did well to get out of there safely, but it's time to let the professionals take over."  
  
Harry almost grinned at that. _There_ was the Percy he knew. It had been a bit odd, though not unpleasantly so, to have Percy acting so attentive rather then shipping him right off to get everything officially taken care of. Not that he wouldn't mind seeing this other side of Percy again, when he was more prepared for the shock.  
  
He trailed closely behind Percy, stupidly glad just to have someone else take control of the situation. The adrenaline had drained from his body by now, leaving feeling drained and empty. All he wanted was to collapse into the nearest bed and let someone else take care of everything. He didn't even realise they'd gotten to the Law Enforcement division until he heard Percy say, "Ah, Miss. Allard. We have a problem. This evening Death Eater's were poised to attack Harry here's home. He managed to escape before they did anything, but he has muggle residents who can't return home now, for fear of being attacked."  
  
"Oh my!" The young woman dug through the papers cluttering up her desk, and pulled out one that appeared to be nothing more then a blank piece of paper. However, as she swiftly scribbled out 'Death Eater attack. Intended Victims: Harry Potter and Dursley Family. Location: #4 Privet Drive.' the ink quickly faded away into the paper, reminding Harry of Tom Riddle's diary and proving there was more to the paper then met the eye.  
  
"All right dear, I'll have to ask you a few questions now," she said to Harry. "Is that all right with you?" Harry nodded. "Okay, about how long ago did this happen?"  
  
"Um..." Harry glanced down at his watch, and tried to remember about when it had happened. "I think about an hour and a half ago now."  
  
"Was there anyone else in the house?"  
  
"No. My aunt and uncle were at a restaurant and my cousin was at a friend's house. I already warned them not to go home until I sent word it was safe."  
  
"How did you know they were there, and about how many did you see?"  
  
"One of them tripped and stumbled under the streetlight below my room for a second. I was lucky enough to catch that happening. There were about four that I could make out, but I was too busy escaping to really sit down and count."  
  
She looked from the invisibility cloak draped over his arm to the broomstick leaning against his arm and said, "Alright, I think I can guess how you got away. That's all we need for now, but you should come in tomorrow and file a full report of the incident with whoever's on duty. They'll also let you know if the auror's who're on their way to your house now have given the word that it's safe for your family to return. For now why don't you find somewhere to get some sleep, alright dear? I'm sure you need it after tonight."  
  
"Ok. Thanks." Harry walked out of the Law Enforcement office, with Percy following close behind.  
  
"So, our you going to floo to The Burrow now?" Percy asked as they walked through the Ministry together.  
  
"No. I don't want to endanger your family when they're after me. I'll go get a room at the Leaky Cauldron."  
  
"Wait a moment while I gather my things, and I'll walk with you. Best for you not to be alone when their may be people aligned with Voldemort around, and I have a room there myself anyway." Then Percy offered him a small surprising smile, "I'm sure Mum will catch word of what happened soon enough, so you'll know where I am if you need someone to back you up, all right?"  
  
Harry blinked at him for a second, flummoxed at the thought of straight-laced, rule abiding Percy offering to back someone up against his mum. Then he grinned broadly and said, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Thanks."  
  
Much to Harry's surprise, something which seemed to be happening a lot that night, Percy blushed slightly, an embarrassed look on his face. "Well, I'll be happy to help. Come along then, I'll just be a second and then we can go see about getting you a room."  
  
Together they walked off through the ministry, little knowing how the summer to come would alter both their lives.  
  
-------  
  
The title is from Yeats' His Phoenix. Since my normal way of choosing a title, using the name of whatever song I'm listening to when I finish the fic, failed (while it's true neither Harry nor Percy is a pretty girl, it still doesn't suit) I instead grabbed the nearest poetry book, closed my eyes, flipped through, and randomly put down my finger. The full bit in question is:  
I mourn for that most lonely thing; and yet God's will be done:  
I knew a phoenix in my youth, so let them have their day. 


	2. A Child's Imperious Way

That Most Lonely Thing Chapter Two   
  
I own nothing. I'm just playing for awhile.   
  
Note: I should never have waited for OotP to be released before starting to write this chapter. If I hadn't then the curse of the million rewrites wouldn't have struck it, and it would have been done over half a year ago. *sighs*   
  
Anyway, the fic was started before OotP, and while at first I tried to mush things around to fit with the new canon, it ended up not working. However, since this _does_ take place in the summer before sixth year, there's a phantom fifth year to fill. So, bits and pieces of book five canon did happen. In short, the most important things are that Umbridge was around, Percy did work for Fudge, but things played out differently between him and his family, Angry!Harry exists, and the death didn't happen.   
  
* * *   
  
"What do you mean you're all sold out?" Harry asked, glaring at Tom.  
  
"I'm sorry, but now that Voldemort's returned folks in isolated areas have been leaving their homes and need someplace to stay. I'll let you know when there's another vacancy, but that may not be for months."   
  
The logical part of Harry's mind knew he should have expected this. He'd seen how crowded the room was when he came in, and Percy had warned him of the possibility. However, he just hadn't been able to believe that things had already gotten so bad that the whole Cauldron would be full. When he'd stayed there in the summer before his third year at Hogwarts he'd thought that the place was ridiculously oversized. No more then a fifth of the rooms had been occupied at any time, and he'd been given what he'd later learned was the best single in the place the whole time he was there. There'd never even been any problems with someone with prior reservations showing up to claim it, or anything of the like. It was hard to imagine it actually being full for a change.   
  
He took a deep, calming breath before speaking again. He didn't want to snap at Tom, and this _was_ a sign that what he'd been trying to accomplish all year had happened; people were recognising the renewed threat of Voldemort. "Alright," he said, once he'd regained his composure. "Then I'll have a bowl of soup and a butterbeer please. I'd like something to eat before I go out looking for another place."   
  
Tom smiled sympathetically at him as he ladled out the soup and sliced off a large hunk of bread to go with it, and said, "I really am sorry Harry. Just between you and me, I'll put you at the top of the list so you really will be the first person I tell when I get a free room, all right?"   
  
Harry forced himself to smile at Tom as he paid for his food. "Yeah, thanks Tom." He carefully picked up his tray and carried it to a small table in the back where Percy was sitting.   
  
Percy took one look at him as he sat down and said, "No luck then?"   
  
"No, it's booked solid. Tom promised to tell me the next time a room's open, but...." He trailed off with a shrug and took a large bite out of his bread, followed by a long swig of butterbeer. "Ok, time for a new plan. Are there any other inns in the Alley?"   
  
"None that are decent, and I _won't_ allow you to stay in one of those... those... _brothels._"   
  
From the distaste in his voice and the way his face twisted into a grimace it seemed to Harry that Percy thought said brothels were the most disgusting places he could think of, which actually made him a little curious to go have a look. He realised, however, that this would not be a good thing to say to the other man, and instead asked, "Okay then, is Gringotts open at this time of night? I'm sure that I remember seeing a muggle hotel nearby the last time I entered from that side, and if I could get my money exchanged I could go stay there."   
  
Percy looked completely horrified at this idea, and Harry almost laughed at the expression. "Absolutely not! Here at least the residual magic that's built up over the years will cloud any locating spells, and there are hundreds of other wizards and witches around who can help out if you're attacked. No one is stupid enough to try anything here, even in the middle of the last war Diagon Alley was one of the few places that remained fairly safe. Out there any halfway decent wizard with a mirror or a convenient puddle could scry your location in moments, and you can't trust yourself to get lucky a second time."   
  
"Well it's not like I have much of a choice!" Harry said, glowering down at his soup and trying his best to keep his voice down. A number of his friends had written to him after the school year ended letting him know, now that they didn't have to deal with him face to face, exactly how trying they'd found his temper during the past year. Since then he'd been trying his best to keep himself from blowing up at anyone, but the past few hours had been extremely stressful, and he was finding it difficult to keep a cool head. He told himself that Percy was just concerned for his well-being and didn't mean to be so annoying, then when he'd gotten a grip on himself again he continued. "Tomorrow I can write to Dumbledore and see if he can check if there's a room available at the Hog's Head or Three Broomsticks, or even if I can go stay at Hogwarts, but I still need somewhere to stay tonight. I _won't_ go to the Burrow or Hermione's, or any of my other friends' houses _because_ it would be so easy to find me outside of large magical areas. We may be as safe as it's possible to be here, but that's not true elsewhere and I will _not_ put my friends in danger if they go after me again."   
  
"Calm down Harry. I don't want you to put anyone else in danger any more then I'd want you to endanger yourself. Listen, there's a couch in the suite I'm staying in, why don't you--"   
  
Harry cut Percy off before he could finish his thought, bursting out "That's perfect! Why in the world didn't you mention that earlier?"   
  
Percy surprised him by blushing, just the tiniest bit, around the ears. "Well, I know I'm hardly your first choice of a person to spend time with, and, um... you'd actually want to?"   
  
Harry laughed, but not unkindly. "Look Percy, I know we're not the best of friends or anything, but it's not like I burst out in boils everytime we're forced into contact. If you don't mind me galumphing about your rooms then I'd be happy to stay, at least until I can find someplace else."   
  
"Well then, great. I'll take you up as soon as we've finished eating."   
  
Harry took that as permission to stop talking and tuck in, and so he did so. He'd forgotten how much he liked the food here, and Tom gave huge helpings so you were sure to walk away from your table full to bursting. After he'd taken the edge off his hunger he asked, "So, is your work going well?"   
  
Percy's face lit up. "Oh, it's going wonderfully. Minister Fudge recently approved my request to return to the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and I've been busy ever since. While it was certainly an interesting learning experience working alongside the Minister, I feel my main interest really lies in helping to set the policies in how our section of the wizarding world interacts with others. When I saw how understaffed the Department's gotten recently, with anyone with the skills to be a real help in the war getting transferred to places where those skills can be put to use, I knew I had to try to get back there." Then he smirked just the tiniest bit and his tone became a bit affected sounding as he said, "Of course, I have no idea _how_Minister Fudge will _ever_ get along without me."   
  
Harry laughed, though he was a little shocked at Percy of all people making a joke about his job. He was always so serious about work. Then, feeling a bit guilty at the thought, he wondered if maybe he'd always been so caught up in the preconceived image of stuffy, uptight Percy that he'd just never noticed the sarcasm behind some of his boasts. No, he couldn't believe he'd really be that dense regarding someone he'd known for almost six years now. It must just be that Percy had loosened up a bit since the last time they'd seen each other. "That's nice. So, if you've changed departments why do you still have the office you had last fall?"   
  
"Oh, that's the same one I've always had. There was no room on the Minister's floor for me so I just kept my old office rather then end up in a desk in the corner somewhere." Percy shrugged and took a drink of his tea to wet his throat. "It was a bit of a hassle going back and forth whenever I needed something I'd left in there, but I like my privacy when working, and it does make moving around easier if everything stays where it is once set up."   
  
"Ah." Harry began shovelling down some more food to cover the fact that he was searching his brain for another topic to talk about. He was a little embarrassed to realise that he honestly had no clue what Percy might be interested in other then work. He must have some other interests, but Harry couldn't remember anytime in the past six years that he'd noticed Percy having so much as a hobby. Well, he'd come to one or two quidditch games, but that was probably the result of his brothers dragging him there rather then actual interest in the game. Finally, coming up with nothing else, he just smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad that you're where you want to be."   
  
"Thank you. It did take me a while to figure out that this _was_ where I wanted to be, but honestly, after this past year I can't remember why it was I wanted to work closely with Minister Fudge to begin with." There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, as they both remembered what an ass he'd been prior to figuring this out, then he coughed and changed the subject. "So, this fall you start your sixth year? Have you gotten your OWL results yet?"   
  
Harry shrugged. "No, not yet. It's not like they matter that much, right?" The look Percy gave him in response to that made him shift uncomfortably in his seat. It was clear that, to Percy at least, he'd just said an incredibly stupid thing. "Hey, I'm not saying I didn't study for them or something! It's just that they really over-exaggerate how important they'll be in the long run, don't they?"   
  
"Harry, if anything they don't emphasise _enough_ how important they are, if you honestly think that way. If you decide you want to spend the rest of your life as a seeker, then you should be alright so long as you manage to pass them, even with a minimum score. However, if you want to make something of your life, you'll need to do better then that. Believe me, one of my duties as Fudge's assistant was to go through resumes and fish out the best of the lot to present to him when he was hiring new people, so I know how much importance is placed on having good OWLs and NEWTs. I suppose I can understand, though _not_ approve of, your not paying attention to what the professors said, but didn't Hermione ever talk to you about this?"   
  
Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes at this. "Because, of course, we all know how level-headed Hermione is when it comes to judging the importance of tests. It's not like she considers failing a single one to doom you to a life on the streets or anything, not _our_ Hermione." He snorted before continuing. "Don't get me wrong, I love her dearly, but she does have a tendency to look at passing... well, anything involving school, as though her entire future would fall down around her ears if she failed."   
  
Harry only noticed the way Percy's previously open, for him, expression had grown shuttered when he heard how cool his voice had become. "You say that as though it were a bad thing. I think that you and Ron would both do well to try and emulate her when it comes to your studies. Though you may think she takes her studies to seriously, her future is certain to be a bright one."   
  
_While yours isn't,_ Harry thought Percy must have been thinking, though he was kind enough to leave it unspoken. For a brief instant he felt the anger welling up again, familiar and almost welcome, and leaving a strange sense of pressure behind his eyes. Then he forced it to dissipate, although it was difficult to do so when he was sure he would be on the right side of the possible argument. He didn't let himself to give into it however, knowing full well how unpleasant rooming together for the next few days would be if they went into it fighting. Not to mention that if Percy got angry enough at him he was sure to take back his offer of his couch. Finally, after a long uncomfortable moment, he managed to offer Percy a smile and said, "Maybe you're right about that. Don't think that I always slack off just because I don't spend as much time on my studies as Hermione though." He hefted up his backpack for Percy to see. "Most of what's in here is my books and homework, and I could have used that space for extra clothes or something."   
  
"Homework? But I thought you hadn't received your OWLs yet."   
  
Harry gave Percy an odd look. "I haven't. So?"   
  
"Well, you're supposed to--" Percy cut himself off when Harry suddenly yawned hugely. For a second Harry was sure Percy was going to assume he was yawning out of boredom and get upset, then he smiled slightly and said, "What am I thinking? You've had a difficult day, and I'm sure you're not in the mood to discuss schoolwork. What I had to say can wait until tomorrow, come on, I'll show you to the room."   
  
Harry pushed himself away from the table, and followed Percy up the stairs. They went up five flights before Percy stepped off into a narrow hall on the top story of the building. Judging from the hall Harry thought that Percy couldn't possibly be staying in a very good room, although he didn't say anything. Because of this he was surprised when Percy open the only door on the right side to reveal a very nice suite.   
  
It was far from the picture of extravagant luxury of course, but the living area he stepped into was furnished by sturdy, incredibly comfortable looking furniture. Perhaps the furniture was all on the old side, but everything was obviously well cared for. To the left the room opened into a kitchen that appeared well equipt, but which he was willing to bet Percy never touched judging by how spotless everything other then the table was, and the way not a thing but the chair in front of said table was out of place. The living area wasn't a mess in comparison or anything, but it was obviously lived in. There was another hall in front of him, and a couple of doors, but they were all closed so he couldn't see the rest of the suite. Still, just from this area Harry could see that Percy was doing better then he'd imagined.   
  
Having seen all that he could, Harry flung himself down on the couch fully clothed and grinned at Percy. "Thanks Percy! This'll be great!"   
  
"You're not sleeping there," Percy replied, frowning slightly in response to the smile.   
  
Harry sat bolt upright again, staring at him. "Huh? I thought that you said I could stay on your couch?"   
  
"No, you're my guest! You get to take the bed, I'll take the couch."   
  
"Percy, don't take this the wrong way, but that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. These're your rooms, you're paying for them with your own money, and I'm _not_ going to drive you out of your own bed. _I'll_ take the couch."   
  
"Harry, no. Since I don't have a guest bed to offer, it's only right that you share mine. Besides, you had to escape death eaters tonight. All I had to escape was the twit from the Accidental Magical Reversal squad whose only interest in life appears to be getting her claws into the first pureblooded wizard she can." From the shadow that briefly crossed Percy's face Harry could easily guess that this 'twit' was often a source of annoyance for this particular pureblooded wizard, and made a mental note to try and pry the story out of him someday when they weren't in the middle of an argument.   
  
"For god's sake Percy, it's not like I was fighting them for life and limb or something! I snuck out a window and went for a short fly! The couch will be great."   
  
"No, it won't! What would my mother say if she came for a visit and discovered that you were sleeping on the couch while I was comfortable in bed? It would be completely rude of me!"   
  
"The couch is more then comfortable enough for me. It's a hell of a lot better then the damned cot I slept in for most of my life, so if that's all you're worried about then cut it out! Besides, I'm already on it, and if you want to get me off you're gonna need to drag me all the way to your bed!" Just in case Percy decided to do this, Harry lay back down and dug his feet deep into the couch cracks while flinging his arms around it's own, clinging onto it as hard as he could.   
  
Percy met him glare for glare, but just as Harry was beginning to think that perhaps he was showing for the first time that he had a stubborn streak that ran as deep as Ron's he exclaimed, "Fine! If you want to sleep on the couch that badly, do so!" and stormed off into one of the back rooms. For a minute Harry assumed he was going to stay there and sulk, then he came back in his pyjamas, with his arms full of blankets and pillows. He tossed some of them down on Harry's legs, then under Harry's bemused gaze he carefully laid out the rest of them on an empty patch of the floor. When he was done he looked back up and said, "If you take the couch, then I take the floor. I'm told you that I can't sleep in my bed if you're out here."   
  
For a long moment then lay in silence, then Harry began to snicker. From that he soon dissolved into helpless laughter, while Percy stared at him as though he'd lost his mind. The anger slowly melted away, unable to keep it's hold on him under this suddenly onslaught of glee. "This..." he gasped out, when he'd finally gotten back enough control to speak, "...is the stupidest fight _ever_. What are we, five? Get off the floor Percy, I'll take the damned bed. But if I'm not gone tomorrow you _better_ agree to trade off every other day, or else you're going to be stuck on the ground every night for the rest of my time here."   
  
It briefly looked like Percy was going to argue but then, perhaps thinking of how hard the floor was and how stubborn Harry could be, he said, "I suppose that sounds like a fair arrangement. However, if my mother ever finds out that you stayed here, please refrain from mentioning it to her. I would rather not get on her bad side just because _you're_ too stubborn to stick to the bed."   
  
"Deal. So, is the bedroom the one you went in for the blankets and stuff?"   
  
"Yes, and the bathroom's straight across from it. Make sure to take the bedding I gave you, I stripped the bed when I came back out here."   
  
"All right." Harry picked up the pile of bedclothes and carried them to the bedrooms doorway, then stopped and looked back at where Percy was already getting his things arranged for bed. "Oh, and Percy?" He waited until Percy was looking up at him before flashing him a grin and saying, "Thanks again for this. Night."   
  
He was already turning away when he heard Percy reply, "Goodnight Harry." 


	3. A Whiteness With No Stain

Harry woke muzzily the next morning, clawing after the unusually pleasant dream he'd been having long after it became clear to the tiny, awake, portion of his mind that he wasn't getting it back. It was when he rolled over and pulled the covers over his head, in the hope that the darkness would help him fend off the encroaching wakefulness, that it first drifted across his mind that something was wrong. The thought wafted away again as he tried to remember what it was he'd last been doing in his dream, but it was enough to wake him up a little more, so when it returned a few minutes later he was able to actually comprehend it. Seconds later he sat up, wide-eyed and groping for his wand. When he found both it, and his glasses, within arms reach he calmed down a little, sliding the glasses on and taking in his surroundings.   
  
It was the sight or the Weasley family waving at him enthusiastically from inside a cheap wooden frame sitting on a nearby dresser that actually reminded him of where he was. He slowly slid out of the warm bed, wishing that he'd at least managed to stay asleep long enough for the day to start heating up. It was too damned cool at six in the morning to be wandering around. Still, it was better to be cold and doing something then warm and staring at the ceiling, so he didn't let the chill drive him back under the covers. Besides, he hadn't showered before going to sleep the night before, and his escape from home had left him feeling more then a little grimy. He quickly dug the nicer of the two robes he'd brought, now badly wrinkled due to being crumbled up all night, out of his bag and grabbed the clothing he'd been wearing the night before off the chair he'd flung them on. As quietly as possible he slipped out of his room and across the hall, almost noiselessly closing and locking the bathroom door behind him then quickly threw off his boxers. As he turned on the water in the shower to let it heat up, and went about his morning business, he made a mental note to get some of his money changed at Gringotts and find a nearby muggle clothing shop. He didn't know how long it would be before he got to go back home, and he could hardly wear the same clothing everyday under his robes. At least the fact that it was summer meant that all he really needed was some cheap tee-shirts and shorts, and a couple of changes of underwear. Probably a slicker too, although he didn't actually need to go out on rainy days if he bought some books or something to pass the time.   
  
He continued making his mental list as he slipped into the shower, adding toiletries to it as he squirted some of Percy's shampoo into his hand. His hair was just as contrary when it came to getting clean as it was about anything else he tried to do to it, and he'd noticed in the past that it seemed to take several times as much shampoo to make his hair feel fully washed then it did for anyone else he knew. Thinking of this, he raised his lathered hands to his head and then paused, sniffing, before holding them in front of his nose instead and taking a deep whiff. This proved to be a bad idea, as the ensuing strong smell of artificial strawberry scent made him sneeze hard, just barely remembering not to cover his mouth unless he really wanted to find out how the shampoo tasted.   
  
He worked the lather into his hair, not wanting to waste it, before grabbing the conditioner and thin sliver of green soap that were also in there. They smelled like raspberries and melons, and Harry had to wonder whether Percy just grabbed the first things that came to hand when he went to the store or if he actually _liked_ smelling like a fruit salad. Well, that was just one more reason why he needed to buy his own things for the shower.  
  
His stomach grumbled at him then, reminding him not to take all day in the shower, and he rushed through cleaning himself, not needing to linger since he'd stopped feeling grungy almost as soon as he'd jumped under the water. He wondered if there was some magic in the water here that cleaned you better then normal, then decided that that was stupid. He hadn't noticed anything like that the last time he'd stayed at the Cauldron, and if they'd magiced the showers since then Percy wouldn't have shampoo and soap at all. Unless of course he really _did_ like the way they smelled.  
  
He dressed quickly once he was out of the shower, doing his best to ignore the mirror's catcalls and the way the air that had fifteen minutes earlier just been cool now felt frigid to his wet skin. Then, as quietly as possible, he exited the room and went to the kitchen, all but walking on tiptoes as he passed the couch where Percy was still sleeping. He wasn't surprised to find the fridge fully stocked when he opened it, even though he still believed that Percy had never actually cooked in there, he was the sort of person who would keep it stocked with food just because it was the proper thing to do with a kitchen. It's not like he'd need to keep using up his paychecks restocking as things went bad; Harry knew that Tom made sure that all the cupboards and refrigerators at the Leaky Cauldron had charms on them that kept food stored in them from spoiling.  
  
For the first time ever Harry found himself a little less angry over his years spent as the Dursleys' personal chef, since over the years he'd perfected cooking as noiselessly as humanly possible. Now, even with Percy a few feet away he was able to avoid making any sounds loud enough to wake him as he scrambled eggs, and fried bacon. Coffee was a bit more problematic, since instead of the electric muggle coffee maker Harry was used to, Percy had a percolator. Harry wasn't completely unfamiliar with the device, years ago his uncle had had a superior who he'd been trying to impress that preferred percolated coffee, so Vernon had bought a percolator and Harry had to use it whenever the man came over. He hadn't needed to do that since the man had moved away when Harry was nine however, and now he first had trouble putting the thing together, once banging it together hard enough that Percy stirred in his sleep, and then realised he'd forgotten how long to leave it one the stove before it was done. By the end he was wondering why he'd even bothered to do this, since as far as he could recall Percy didn't even _drink_ coffee. He supposed that it was just because he'd been trained to always make coffee with breakfast and now, even outside of the Dursley house, he was compelled to keep up the same old routine.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet groan coming from the couch. He turned to face it and saw that Percy's eyes were tightly squinched closed, but he seemed to be sniffing the air. Harry laughed softly at the sight and Percy's eyes cracked open. "Huh?" He murmured, squinting in Harry's direction. "Who izzat? Wa'm I on the couch?"   
  
Harry laughed again, louder, at the unfamiliar sight of a disorientated Percy, then took pity on him and said, "It's me, Harry. I showed up at your work last night after the death eaters attacked my house, remember? Um, I made breakfast for us, if you want some. You did like your eggs scrambled, right?"  
  
"That's right." Percy had found his glasses during Harry's laughing jag, and seemed much more clearheaded now that he could see what was going on around him. "How did you know?"  
  
"Come on Percy, I've spent how many nights at the Burrow? Do you really think I'm unobservant enough to miss that?"  
  
Percy looked at him strangely. "Well, most people wouldn't, in my experience."  
  
"Really? Well, maybe it's just because I'm used to paying attention to things like that. The Dursleys always expected me to keep track of their tastes when I cooked. So, are you going to eat?"  
  
"Oh, yes." Percy sat down at the table and Harry handed him a full plate, then joined him with his own food. He seemed hesitant to try it at first, but the way Harry began to wolf his food down seemed to reassure him that the food wouldn't be awful at least, and he took a small bit of his eggs. Then, obviously surprised at how good it was, he began to eat almost as fast as Harry. He even gulped down a cup of coffee, even though Harry could tell from his expression that he'd remembered right about his not normally drinking it. "This is really good, Harry. I didn't know you could cook."  
  
"Well, eggs and bacon aren't that difficult, but thanks. I've been in charge of breakfast at my Uncle's house for years now, so I guess I've gotten pretty good. I would have made something a bit more complex, but I didn't know for sure what else you like."  
  
"This is perfect. I don't need anything else. You might not think scrambled eggs are that big a deal, but they were always my favorite. I always leave for work before Tom starts serving breakfast, and I don't have time to cook myself, so I haven't had them since leaving home." For a long moment Percy seemed lost in thought, then he shook himself and focused on Harry again. "I'm surprised you always do so badly at potions class. If you like cooking enough to take over a meal when you're at home then I'd think you'd be the type of person to take right to potions."  
  
Harry decided not to correct Percy about the reasons for his cooking breakfast (not to mention lunch, dinner, and dessert) at home, and instead said "Well, maybe if we didn't have such a biased bully of a professor I'd do better. I'm just lucky that I've always managed to scrape by with a passing grade considering how much Snape hates me."  
  
"Well, it's not as if you haven't given him good reason to dislike you," Percy replied, then seemed to realise immediately that that was the wrong thing to say as Harry's face flushed with anger.  
  
"_What?_ I gave _him_ reasons to hate me? _He_ never even gave me a _chance!_ The greasy bastard hated me from the moment I walked through the doors of Hogwarts, just because he didn't like my father!"  
  
"Well, even if that's true, you could have tried to be a good student and prove to him that he had no reason to dislike you. Instead you and my brother antagonised him at every turn. And don't think that I don't know that that's true, as Head Boy and Prefect I was sent copies of all complaints filed against Gryffindor students, and I lost count of how many were about your picking on Professor Snape. I suppose that I should have reprimanded you for this, but I'm afraid I neglected my duties because you're a family friend and I didn't something like that to come between our friendship."  
  
Harry glared at Percy, angry that just as he was getting comfortable with normal friendly him Percy the Perfect Prefect/Head Boy just had to make a reappearance. However, he found his anger slipping away to shock at the realisation that Percy had thought there _was_ a friendship between the two of them at school. Sure, Harry didn't go out of his way to avoid Percy the way many other students in the tower seemed to do, and if Percy tried to strike up a conversation with him he'd go along with it for the sake of politeness if there wasn't an urgent reason for him to be elsewhere, but he'd never seek out his company just to hang out with him or talk the way he did with Percy's brothers and his other friends. When he wasn't being overly stuffy or overbearing Percy had always just been a figure in the background to Harry, a friendly acquaintance at best. But, thinking back on it, he couldn't remember anyone outside of the Weasley family other then Penny Clearwater who'd even talked to Percy for longer then absolutely necessary even out of politeness. Hell, half the time even his brothers didn't do that. Could Percy really have thought of him as a friend because of that? For the first time since deciding to head to the Ministry the night before Harry began to feel a little guilty for running to Percy purely because it had seemed to be the most strategically sound choice to make and completely lacking any real desire to see or spend time with him. "How about we just drop this topic," he said finally. "I don't want to have a fight with you, especially not over something like Snape."  
  
"Alright." Percy stared down at his almost empty plate for a second, frowning slightly, then said, "Well, I do have one last thing to say. If it makes you feel better, I actually did disapprove of Professor Snape more then you when I heard of your encounters. True, I thought you should learn to control your anger toward him a bit, since his _is_ a faculty member after all, but it's expected that most students have a teacher that they hate. I myself couldn't stand Professor Trelawney, although Divinations is thankfully neither a required class, nor one that I needed a NEWT in to work at the Ministry. Professor Snape, on the other hand, is a fully grown man, and should be able to rise above whatever hatred he had for your father and judge you separately from him. Not to mention that I am not blind to his gross favoritism towards Slytherin house, which Dumbledore should have put a stop to years ago."  
  
Harry could hardly believe that he was actually hearing Percy agree with him about Snape, though saying so in a much more polite way then he would, instead of giving the same old spiel about how he was a teacher and as such must always be respected. "Thanks," he said, grinning. "That really means a lot, coming from you."  
  
Percy actually visibly blushed, quickly ducking his head to try and hide it, but the pink tips of his ears were still obvious. "Well, just because I prefer to abide by the rules doesn't mean I'm blind to what's going on around me. I was aware of the fact that half the time Professor Snape was just as at fault as you were in your spats."  
  
"Hmm." Harry's eyes drifted over to the clock hanging on the wall and he asked, "What time do you need to head for work anyway? I need to be ready to go with you to talk to the auror on duty after all."  
  
Percy's eyes followed his gaze as he said, "Well, I like to be there by-- _HELL!_" He leapt to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. "I should be ready by now!" Harry stared after him as he dashed down the hall and disappeared into his room, more startled by hearing him swear then by the sudden burst of activity. It seemed like barely a minute later that Percy came running out again and grabbed his wand off the table. "No time for a shower," he muttered, then waved the wand over himself. "Abluo!"  
  
Before Harry's eyes Percy suddenly became cleaner looking, although he hadn't realised until then that he'd been dirty to begin with. Still, there were a few things off. "Uh, Percy, do you realise you skipped a button on your shirt?" Percy looked down at himself, then quickly fixed the mistake while Harry walked towards him. "And, uh, your hair... you might want to brush it, or something."   
  
Percy glanced into the mirror that was hanging next to the door, then grabbed a comb that was lying on the table under it and ran it through his hair a few times, managing to tame his bed-head at least enough to keep himself from looking completely unpresentable. That done he raise an eyebrow at Harry and asked, "Anything else?"  
  
"Well, could you use that cleaning spell on me? I don't have any extra clothes to wear under my robes, and after last night these ones aren't at their cleanest."  
  
"You should have said something, you could have borrowed something of mine. I know they'd be a bit long on you, but..." Percy trailed off, but the way he looked at the castoffs that Harry was swimming in spoke for itself. "Well, I don't think it would be that big a problem."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind in case I don't get a chance to go clothes shopping today. But for now the spell'll be fine, thanks."  
  
"Well, just remember to remind me tomorrow morning if needed. Abluo. Now, let's get going."  
  
Harry followed him out the door, feeling a little confused. "Aren't you going to apparate?"  
  
Percy raised an eyebrow at him. "Not from this close to the ministry, unless I was much later getting ready then I was. No need to waste energy that would be better spent on my work. Besides, I'm hardly going to leave you to make your own way to the ministry after last night. Once you've finished up at the Law Enforcement department I'm sure that they'll assign an auror to protect you, but until then you're in my care and I can't allow anything to happen to you."  
  
Harry tactfully decided against letting Percy know how little help he expected the man to be if any Death Eaters _did_ spot him and risk attacking, or how, if they did have an auror baby-sit him, he would damn well do his best to escape them as soon as he had a chance. Instead he just ignored the talk about his safety, and concentrated on the answer to his original question. "Does it really take so much more effort to apparate then it does to walk?"  
  
"I'd forgotten for a moment, you're too young to learn how to do it, aren't you? Well, it depends on how good you are, how long you've been doing it, and how far you're travelling. It's not that much more tiring then walking from this close, but I'd rather not waste the energy when so little time is saved."  
  
Harry snorted at this, and grinned at Percy. "Now that you're past showing off that you can do it everytime you get a chance?"  
  
For a second Percy seemed to stiffen, but then he loosened up again and even smiled a bit at Harry in return. "Well... yes. Besides that, I don't like apparating over short distances because, well...." He hesitated a long moment, then said, "I'm trusting you not to tell my brothers this, but I'm not that great at apperation. I'm not at any risk of splinching myself, so I passed the test, but it's a lot more draining for me to apparate somewhere then it is for most other people to travel the same distance. It was worth it when I needed to travel from The Burrow to my office everyday, but not now that I live in the Alley."  
  
"Oh." Harry digested this information, more then a little startled that Percy would admit this to _him_ of all people. It was hard enough trying to imagine him confessing that he was less then perfect at anything he attempt to _anyone_, let alone Harry. "Well, I imagine I'll have just enough trouble when I get around to learning how to do it." Percy made a small sound of disbelief, and Harry glared at him for a second. "You better not be thinking that I'll be great at it just because I'm _Harry Potter_. If apparating is a thing like flooing or travelling by portkey then there's no way I'm going to be good at it. I hate travelling both of those ways, and I don't even need to put any effort into them. I'll probably set a new world record for the number of times I need to be unsplinched."  
  
"Oh, I doubt that. If you're really as bad as you imagine you'll be then you'll probably manage to fatally splinch yourself long before you break the record. It's people who're only moderately bad that have a chance at it."  
  
Harry stared at him silently, looking for any signs that he was joking, then finally said, "It's possible for splinching to be fatal?"  
  
"Of course. You can leave behind most of your body and it's recoverable, but your brain and heart need to be in the same piece of you or you'll be killed. Preferably at least one of your lungs too, but it's not needed if you're gotten to quickly. You just need to remember to cast a spell that'll oxygenate your bloodstream. They'll teach it to you in apparation class." He managed to meet Harry's gaze steadily for a short while, then his lips began to twitch, giving him away.  
  
"You ass! You had me believing you!"  
  
They'd reached the Ministry by now, and the receptionist looked up in amazement at the sound of Percy's laughter. "If it makes you feel any better, I believed Charlie, and he believed Bill, though I'm not sure that Ron will believe the twins since no one with sense would believe a story like that coming from them. I'm sorry for dragging you into our little family joke, but since you brought up the topic I couldn't resist." He nodded to the receptionist, who was still staring back and forth between him and Harry, and said, "Good morning Ms. Davis. My friend here is expected at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."  
  
"Oh, uh, yes Mr. Weasley. Do you need a guide there, Mr--"  
  
He ignored her attempt to get his name, just saying, "No, I can make my own way." Then he turned back to Percy. He didn't really want their conversation to end, but obviously he couldn't stand their talking all day. "So, what time do you get off?"  
  
"Come by the same time as last night. I'm sure I'll be ready by then."  
  
"Alright, see you then." With one last smile, to let Percy know he wasn't angry about the joke, he turned and began to walk in the direction he remembered from the night before.   
  
* * *  
  
Nothing belongs to me, I'm just playing a bit. 


	4. Such Praises Can Be Heard

That Most Lonely Thing  
Chapter Four  
I own nothing, I'm just playing for awhile.  
  
------   
  
It was easy enough to find his way back to the auror's department. Even though he had taken a different route to reach it the night before it didn't matter, there were signs at each intersection pointing him towards it. He wasn't sure whether whoever had put them up did so because they assumed that it was the most important section of the ministry and so wanted to make it as easy as possible to find, or if the signs were simply charmed to point whoever was looking at them in the direction they wanted to go, but so long as they got him there quickly he didn't really give a damn about the whys behind them. He just hoped what he had to do here would be quick; he didn't relish the thought of spending hours sitting around giving a detailed account of an event that couldn't have lasted more then fifteen minutes tops.   
  
When he reached the doors to the the Department of Magical Law Enforcement he paused for a moment, going over the events of the previous evening. If Mad-Eye Moody was in there, and if he'd heard that Harry'd been attacked he was almost sure he would be, he really wasn't in the mood for a lecture on the necessity of constant vigilance, so he wanted to picture everything as clearly as possible before going in. When he was sure he had a clear enough mental image he took a deep breath and pushed open the door.   
  
"Wotcher Harry!" Before he'd even fully opened the door Tonks was upon him, dragging him through and pushing him into a chair. He couldn't help but stare at her as he sat; her hair was currently a particularly bilious shade of lime green, her eyes bright orange, and she was very darkly tanned. The result was odd looking, even for her. She noticed him staring and grinned, striking a pose. "I just got back from Bermuda, can you tell Harry? Had a vacation due and figured I better take it before the war really heats up and no one's allowed off of active duty. Two full weeks of doing nothing but lying around on the beach."   
  
The receptionist, whom he hadn't noticed before but now saw was Miss. Allard from the previous night, snorted and caught his eye. "She never even left London. She just spent the time visiting her mum, then made herself tan when she came back to make people jealous with that silly story."   
  
"Hey!" Tonks glared, her eyes turning a bright red that made Harry think of the colored contacts the goth boy down the road wore rather then making her seem very threatening. "Do I ruin _your_ fun, Elly?"   
  
Elly just smirked, and went back to her work.   
  
"Tonks," Harry broke in now that he had a chance, "isn't Moody around?"   
  
She grinned at him again, eyes lightning back to orange, and said , "Thought he would be, didn't you? And he _was_, ever since he's come out of retirement he does his best to take over everything dealing with Voldemort. You're lucky I stopped in for a minute this morning or it would be him here. When I learned what happened I convinced him that his mug wasn't something anyone wanted to see first thing in the morning, especially after they've already been through a trying experience within that same day."   
  
"Hey, thanks. So, what do you need to know?"   
  
"Uh, let's see." She pulled out a parchment and briefly looked over it, then grabbed a quill and unrolled it to a blank section. When she spoke she suddenly sounded much more professional then she normally did. "So, you saw one of them trip into a light for a second, then escaped by flying off with your invisibility cloak on?"   
  
"That's right. There's a window in the roof that I could open up without them seeing it for the street, so I grabbed some things and wrapped my cloak tight around me and my broom, then snuck through it."   
  
"Lucky you that there weren't any in the air then. So, you flew all the way here like that?"   
  
"No, just a few blocks. Then I landed and called the Knight Bus. It was too hard to fly with the bristles wrapped up."   
  
For a second she broke out of auror mode and smiled at him. "Too bad. If you'd made it all that way you would've won quite a bit of respect from any professional flyers that heard about it, and helped your chances of getting into a top team a little if you decided to play Quidditch professionally. Even when you're really good it's still damn hard to fly with no wind reaching your broom." Harry wondered if he should be insulted that that was the second time in the past day that someone that knew him had assumed he had plans to be a Quidditch player for the rest of his life, but decided it wasn't worth it to be as he watched her make a note, then call over to Elly, "Hey, Elly! Get in touch with the Knight Bus offices and tell them we need the stop in Little Whinging at around nine-thirty deleted from the records. Tell them it's an emergency."   
  
"I used a fake name. It's not like they can just look up where Harry Potter went!"   
  
"Smart a move as the was Harry, if they have the sense to look, our enemies are smart enough to realise that the person who got picked up from your area right at the time they were failing to catch you was you, and to look right across the column to see where you went."   
  
"But I've hardly been hiding the fact that I'm in Diagon Alley! It's not like they're going to attack me here!"   
  
"That _might_ be true, _if_ Voldemort isn't quite to the point where he wants you dead so badly that he doesn't mind losing the followers that would surely get captured in the process of killing you in the middle of the Alley, but it also says right here that you stopped and warned your aunt and uncle not to go home. They _will_ realise that since your family never came home last night that that mysterious other stop must have been to where they were, and then it would just be a matter of checking the hotels in the area. We could stake out all the hotels ourselves and wait for them to show, but considering that our department is already spread very thin until the recruits from other departments are out of training we don't want to get into any unneeded confrontations at the moment. So, unless you really wish them dead, we're getting that stop erased from the record."   
  
He glowered at her for a long moment, angry that she was talking at him like this when he thought she was his friend and she knew he'd had a bad night. She glared right back at him, eyes once more red, looking like there was no way in hell she was backing down. Finally he needed to look away, and the tense mood broke as he said, "Fine. You're right."   
  
"Good! I'm glad you can admit it!" Tonks smiled happily, for all the world as though their stare off had never even happened. For a moment Harry felt almost envious of how easily she seemed to shake her anger off, he knew his life would probably be easier if he could do the same. In light of that thought he couldn't even bring himself to sulk like he normally would, because she _was_ in the right, and if she didn't seem to continue harboring any bad feelings then what right had he to do so? "You weren't lucky enough to catch one of them taking off their mask for a second to scratch their nose or anything so you could identify them, were you?"   
  
"Uh, no. Does that happen?"   
  
"More often then you'd think. Apparently those things are very unpleasant to wear for very long. Voldemort doesn't seem to believe in allowing charms to make them more comfortable, he's very much a suffering builds strength type. There's only so long someone can stand wearing one of those things before they need to get some air to their faces, especially if he's not actually there. Let's see now, you said you're staying in the alley right now?"   
  
"Yes, at the Leaky Cauldron."   
  
"I thought that place was booked solid."   
  
"It was. Percy Weasley's lending me his couch at the moment. I'm planning on writing Dumbledore later to see if I can head to Hogwarts, or one of the inns at Hogsmeade."   
  
"Percy, eh? That must be tough to stand."   
  
"Actually, it's been surprisingly decent so far. I don't know if he's loosened up a bit or is just trying to be friendly to be a good host or what, but he hasn't even been annoying yet, let alone made me want to smack him hard enough to dislodge his head from his ass."   
  
"Really? Lucky you. All right, that's really most of what I needed to ask. Everything else I can figure out easily enough from what you already told me, so you don't really need me to ask them. I'm supposed to warn you not to do anything dangerous, or to go anywhere that's not crowded. I do need to know if you're planning on heading into the muggle world for any reason, since you won't be protected there."   
  
"Yeah, this afternoon. I didn't bring any other clothes, so I need to go shopping."   
  
"Really?" She grinned widely and clapped her hands together. "Well then, I guess I don't need to get someone assigned to guard you at all! I'll just go with you!"   
  
"Is that really necessary, Tonks?"   
  
"It's either that, or someone follows you around all day long to make sure they don't miss your leaving the Alley. Come on, it'll be fun. And honestly Harry, don't you think it would be better to have a feminine eye with you to make sure you don't buy anything horribly unbecoming?"   
  
Harry thought that considering Tonks rarely even seemed to manage to keep her eyes from clashing with her hair he probably was better off on his own really, but didn't have the heart to tell her when she looked so excited about the idea. And really, if this spared him from needing to even try to ditch an auror sent to protect him, it was worth it. "Okay. I'm going to do some shopping around the Alley first, and am going to need to get some money exchanged at Gingotts, but I'll be free after that. Maybe we could meet up for lunch at the Cauldron at one or so then go find a store?"   
  
"That's perfect. Since I had to take the whole morning shift to get Moody out of here I'll be here until twelve, so that'll give me enough time to run to Gringotts myself."   
  
"So, is that all?" "Not unless you don't want to know what we found at your house. You do want to know, don't you?"   
  
"Oh, yeah. Was it bad?"   
  
Tonks rolled back to the beginning of the parchment and skimmed it quickly before saying, "No, you're lucky. Nothing was permanently broken, and our men fixed everything that was damaged so your aunt and uncle wouldn't need to take care of it. All the doorknobs in the house except for your's and your cousin's were cursed, and those two were transformed into portkeys. The curses were removed, and we replaced the portkeys and are attempting to trace where they go. The aurors investigating want another day to make sure they've caught all the curses, but after that it'll be safe to let your family go back home." Then she smirked at him, eyes glittering, "Best of all, three of the Death Eaters there were caught. We don't believe any of them were very high ranking, anyone there that was would have left when they realised no one was home and left the peons to take care of the cursing, but we're interrogating them to see what they know. And don't worry, unlike the last time around we aren't going to let anyone go just because we got some names out of them."   
  
"Great! So, I'll just send an owl to the Dursleys letting them know not to go home until tomorrow, and everything will be alright, right?"   
  
"That's right. If anyone's still around when they come home they'll make themselves scarce. We made sure everyone knows that your family has, uh, _issues_ with the wizarding world, and not to let themselves be seen."   
  
"Thank you, Tonks." Then he snorted and continued, "Of course, they've probably already put the house on the market and are halfway to Abu Dhabi by now in an attempt to get away from the evil 'freaks' that've gone so far as attacking their house."   
  
Tonks' smile faltered for a second, then came back but it looked a little strained. "Well, that takes care of things. I'll see you this afternoon then."   
  
"See you then!"   
  
Harry left the room in a even better mood then he'd been in when he entered it. The interrogation had been much easier then he'd assumed it would be, and the fact that he'd narrowly avoided being stuck talking to Moody made things even better. Then there was the capturing of the Death Eaters; three less people out on the streets who were after his life. All in all everything had been going better that one day then it had been for months.   
  
He quickly made his way back to the lobby, finding out as he did so that the signs did indeed change to show people the way to the place they were going to as the same ones that had earlier shown him the way to the auror's department were now pointing him back to the entrance. Not that he needed them now, he remembered his way back out easily enough.   
  
When he reached the reception desk the woman there, Ms. Davis he remembered Percy saying, called out to him, "Excuse me sir!"   
  
Harry winced, assuming that she'd figured out who he was in the time since he'd come in and wanted an autograph or something equally inane. Still, he went over to her just in case she actually wanted something job related, like him needing to sign a form saying he'd been in. If that were the case he thought he probably shouldn't ignore her. As he approached her, giving her her first good view of his face, her eyes widened and he winced again, realising that until just then she actually hadn't known it was him. To her credit, instead of immediately enthusing over how wonderful it was to meet him she quickly schooled her expression back into one of friendly professionalism. "Yes?" he said when he reached her.   
  
"I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Potter," she said, eyes flickering to his scar for a minute then down to meet his eyes. "I just saw you coming in with Mr. Weasley this morning, and was wondering if the two of you were close friends. I've never actual seen him joke with another person before, and couldn't resist asking you about it when I saw you come out."   
  
Harry only resisted sighing aloud because he didn't want to appear rude. Ever since meeting Rita Skeeter and learning how terribly rumors could be twisted he could never stand gossipers, and he could already tell gossip was what she was after. "I know Percy at school my first few years, and his brother is a good friend of mine. Last night I tried getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron but they're full, luckily he was there and offered me his couch for a day or two until I can find a room somewhere else. He got me out of a tight spot, that's all." He tried spinning the truth in the most boring way he could, knowing that if refused to answer she'd come up with some ridiculous reason behind the two of them spending time together and talk about it with everyone she knew. From the obvious disappointment in her eyes he knew that he was right and that she really wished he had told her something more interesting. He probably had still told her a bit to much in mentioning he was staying at Percy's place, but at least he could hope that any rumors that started when people noticed the two of them coming and going from the same room would be quashed within the Ministry. It was a little silly to even think of people thinking the two of them were together, but he's almost gotten used to the fact that that was likely to happen with anyone he was seen spending time with, and he didn't want rumors like that to get spread around the place Percy worked. Harry wasn't sure exactly what the wizarding world's views on homosexuality were, other then the fact that all of his friends had assured him that they had no problem with him seeing Ron when _that_ rumor had flown around the year before, but even if they had no problem with it normally he was sure they'd have issues with the fact that Harry was underaged. He didn't want Percy to be fired because people were saying he was a paedophile, even when they were only four years apart in age. "Is that all you needed?"   
  
"Oh. Yes. Have a nice day, Mr. Potter."   
  
"You too, Ms. Davis. Good-bye." Harry turned to leave, then a thought struck him and he almost slapped himself before turning back to Ms. Davis. "I'm going to need to go to Percy's office quickly, is that alright?"   
  
"That's fine. I'm sure no one will bother _you_ for wandering around. Do you know where to go?"   
  
"I'll be fine, thank you." He quickly turned and began walking away, going as quickly as he could without worrying about getting told off for running. He mentally berated himself for being an idiot as he made his way to Percy's office for the second time within a day. Luckily when he reached it he found he was only intruding on paperwork, and there wasn't someone else there.   
  
Percy blinked up at him when he barged in. "Harry? Are you planning on making a habit of visiting me at work or something?"   
  
"Uh, no. Sorry to barge in on you, but I just realised that I don't have a key to your room, and I need to get in to get my Gringotts key."   
  
"Oh!" Percy quickly scrambled for a blank parchment and a quill. As he quickly wrote something down he said, "I should have thought of that, but I was in such a rush this morning that in never crossed my mind that you wouldn't be able to get into the room on your own. Just one minute." He finished writing, pulled out his wand, and touched it lightly to the parchment, leaving behind his lightly glowing initials, then folded it and handed it to Harry. "There, give that to Tom and he'll give you a spare key."   
  
"Thanks! See you tonight."   
  
Percy was already turning back to his work. "Good-bye. Could you please shut the door behind you on the way out?"   
  
"Sure." Harry left, shoving the letter in his pocket as he did so. There were no more interruptions keeping him from leaving, and soon he was back outside in the Alley and walking quickly back to the Leaky Cauldron. With the letter Percy gave him he had no troubles getting a key, then getting his key and his money pouch with the small handful of spare sickles and knuts he had left over from the summer before. He had enough to buy maybe a school book or two, but nothing more, so he really needed to get to Gringotts first thing. It was a good thing he'd remembered he wouldn't be able to get back into the room before he'd walked all the way back to the Cauldron, and eaten up more of the time he had before needing to meet up with Tonks.   
  
The trip to Gringotts was uneventful, he somehow even managed to avoid getting recognised, probably because he needed a haircut and his scar wasn't obvious until someone got close to him. Part of him wondered if it was even worth it to get it cut soon if he could avoid that bother, but after a moments thought he decided that he really found his hair getting into his eyes to be more annoying. By now most of the people who were regularly in the Alley were used to him anyway after the time he'd spent there before his third year and the trips he took almost every year to get his school things. Visitors from out of the area might be an annoyance, but he'd mostly gotten used to that by now, a fact which he found a little disturbing.   
  
At the bank he went up to the first free goblin that he saw. Even though he didn't seem to be doing anything except waiting for customers, he still glared at Harry as if he were interrupting the most important work in the world. At least until Harry pulled out his key, at which point he still appeared to find Harry's presence distasteful, but at least tried to hide it better. "Good morning sir," he said. "Are you here to make a withdrawal?"   
  
"Yes. I also want to exchange some of the money I get out for muggle currency."   
  
"How much?"   
  
"Um..." Harry tried to think of what the galleon to pound exchange rate might be, but couldn't remember. He knew there were several pounds to a galleon, but not how many, and didn't want to find himself loaded down with muggle currency. He also didn't want to ask the goblin, who clearly assumed he was an idiot from the get go and would just believe he was right if Harry admitted to not knowing something like this. After a moment he said, "50 galleons should do, thank you." He figured that would probably work out to a hundred-odd pounds, and thought that that would probably be more then enough to buy all the clothes he needed. In fact, he was probably overdoing it a bit; it only took a galleon and five sickles to get his school robes for the year, and he got _those_ from an actual tailor instead of a department store so they were probably more expensive. But then, it would probably be for the best that he have some spare muggle money around, just incase he ever needed it.   
  
The goblin had been writing something down while he'd been thinking, and after a moment said, "Alright, sir. Tosslock will show you take you to your safe. Bring the galleons you want converted to me when you've gotten them, and I'll have your muggle currency ready. Tosslock!"   
  
Harry nodded to the goblin behind the counter and said, "Thank you" before following the goblin that approached them off into the vault area. As they careened through the caverns under the bank he regretted the choice to have eggs for breakfast; his stomach was churning much worse then it had through any of his previous times on this trip. They luckily reached his vault before it got bad enough for him to actually throw up, and he made a show of slowly counting out the fifty galleons he needed to give his stomach time to calm down. Another handful into his money bag to join the sickles and knuts he already had, and he was ready to go back.   
  
Harry wondered if it was just his imagination, or if the goblin behind the desk really looked as amused as he thought he did by his obvious nausea. Imagination or not, he still went through their transaction quickly enough, counting the galleons much faster then Harry had, then counting 256 pounds into his hand. He blinked. "There must be some mistake."   
  
"Sir, we do not _make_ mistakes," the goblin replied, his voice's coolly professional tone slipping for the first time and gaining a touch of snippyness.   
  
"This must be to much though, that was only fifty galleons!"   
  
"The current exchange rate is 5.12 pounds to a galleon. 50 galleons comes to 256 pounds. Would you like a piece of paper and a quill to work it out on your own, or will you trust my math? Perhaps you don't think so, _sir_, but to most people 50 galleons is quite a bit of money."   
  
Harry bit back an angry retort, proud of himself for managing to keep his temper while the goblin was so obviously beginning to lose his. He had to take that as a good sign that he was getting closer to reaching his goal of becoming more even-tempered before the next school year started. "I'm sorry," he said, plastering a pleasant smile on his face. "I've never exchanged money before, and thought the rate was less then that. I guess I'll be going now, thank you."   
  
The goblin nodded at him, "Good day sir."   
  
As Harry left the building Tosslock darted up to him again. "Sir, I hope that you will not allow Dartpit's attitude tarnish the way you view our fine bank."   
  
Harry was a little startled by this, since Gringotts goblins had never actually come up and talked to him outside of when they needed to lead him to the vaults. "Huh? Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't leave the bank or anything just because he's rude."   
  
"Thank you sir. It's just that Dartpit," Tosslock glanced furtively back at the goblin in question and lowered his voice, "Well sir, he wanted to get a job overseas, outside of the banking business, but was unable to raise enough money to move. His parents finally forced him to join the family business, and now he can't leave until his contract expires. He gets a bit... touchy around our richer clientele as he's still upset about his failure to make much money. Nepotism keeps him from being fired, but we try to steer clients with wealth such as yours away from him. I'm afraid that we didn't recognise you, sir, and failed to do so this time."   
  
"It's fine, really. He didn't bother me _that_ much."   
  
"We just thought you should know the circumstances, sir. We did not want you to believe that such behaviour would normally be tolerated from our staff. If you avoid him in the future I'm sure your transactions will be much pleasanter."   
  
"Well, thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Harry nodded to the goblin then walked out the door. He thought that that was definitely the strangest visit to Gringotts he'd ever had; even more so then his very first trip when _everything_ had been strange. He knew the goblins there prided themselves on their professionalism, but not that they'd bother apologising for co-workers who were a little on the rude side. It wasn't as though Dartpit had even been that bad, by human standards. Tetchy, certainly, but if Harry had thought about it later he would have just assumed that he'd been having a bad day, and Harry implying he didn't know what he was doing when exchanging his money had been the straw that'd broken the camel's back. Really, in retrospect Harry didn't know why _he'd_ been so close to losing his temper, Dartpit hadn't been _that_ bad.   
  
He decided not to think about it anymore. It wasn't like he'd need to deal with the goblin again that summer, and if he did the next year it wouldn't be for more then fifteen minutes or so, so it was pointless to wonder about the whole exchange. He glanced around the alley to remember which store he needed to go to was closest, then turned and quickly walked to Madam Malkin's.   
  
When he reached it he found that Malkin herself was in, and she smiled broadly at him when she caught sight of him. "Mr. Potter!" she said. "What a pleasant surprise! I wouldn't have expected to see you here for another month, at least. How can I help you today?"   
  
"I need a new set of school robes, Madam Malkin. The sleeves on the ones I have don't fit right anymore, and the hem's getting worn." He twitched up the bottom of the robe he was currently wearing to show it was fraying in a few places. He felt oddly guilty about that, he knew her robes should last much longer then a year before they became worn enough to notice it, but the life he lead was very hard on his clothing. Even if he did nothing else that would be a strain on them, Quidditch would assure her went through robes faster then most people. The wind whipping through the ends of them did them no good.   
  
She looked him over for a moment, then said, "I daresay they're a bit short on you now as well. Well dear, come along to the back. You're lucky you came in so early; this is a very busy time of the year for us. With Midsummer's day approaching everyone wants to look their best, and my girls need to run themselves ragged taking care of them all. Now, up!"   
  
Harry stepped up onto the same footstool he'd been on the first time he'd been there, and quickly shucked off his old robe. As Madam Malkin pulled one of the oversized school robes over him and began pinning it up he was struck by a sudden sense of deja vu. The only thing missing was Malfoy standing on the stool beside him to make it a complete recreation of his first visit. He'd almost forgotten that they'd met there before they'd ever been at school together, and had even gotten along well enough until Malfoy had insulted Hagrid. It made him feel a little sick to admit to himself that he'd _ever_ gotten along with Malfoy, even if it had only been for a few minutes during which he was sure he remembered being reminded of Dudley. He had to be happy that the other young man didn't suddenly appear to make the feeling of deja vu complete. If he did Harry knew their encounter wouldn't go nearly as peacefully as it had during that first conversation.   
  
"Alright dear, that's done. I can make the rest with this," Madam Malkin said, breaking into his thoughts. She looked him over for a long moment, then smiled a little wistfully. "I don't suppose you've been told to get dress robes again this year, have you?"   
  
"Uh, no. Why, have you heard something?" He really _really_ hoped that she hadn't heard anything of the kind. The ball during his fourth year had been bad enough, he really didn't want to go through another. Of course, knowing Dumbledore that was _exactly_ the sort of thing he'd plan for the year in an attempt to raise everyones spirits and keep their minds off the war. Thankfully Malkin was shaking her head as she set to work altering his robes, so even if there was a ball planned at least word wasn't out yet.   
  
"No, I've heard nothing of the kind. It's just... well, I know you won't like me thinking like this dear, but I was looking forward to making you a wonderful dress robe two years ago. I knew that the Boy Who Lived being seen in a dress robe made by _me_ would be grand publicity, and when you never came in I have to admit to being disappointed."   
  
Harry couldn't even bother to get upset by people using his going to their stores as publicity any longer. It was just a fact of life to him now; he could either spend the rest of his life getting ticked off everytime he saw an advertisement mentioning that Harry Potter shopped at wherever the ad was for, or he could get used to it and only get angry when he saw an ad _lying_ about his having shopped there. "Well," he said. "I buy my school robes here, isn't that worth anything?"   
  
"Bless you dear, but no. _Everyone_ who shops in Diagon Alley buys their school work robes here. Merlin himself could come in for work robes and no one would blink. Student dress robes are another matter; the richer families will go to one of the more expensive tailors and everyone else will buy used robes down the street rather then spend much money on one dance when their children are probably going to quickly outgrow whatever they get. So, it would have been something special to have someone famous wearing dress robes from my store at the first Hogwarts ball in decades. But, what's past is past, and it's no use getting hung up on it. We're hardly hurting for work here, it would have just been a nice Christmas bonus if you had brought people in."   
  
"Well, if I ever do need new dress robes, I'll be coming here," he said, though he knew that might only be true because he had no idea where any other robe tailor was. It seemed to make her happy to hear him say that at any rate, and he didn't really mind that he was guilted into it. In the past she'd always been kind enough that a little guilt didn't bother him.   
  
She quickly finished off the last of his school robes and neatly folded and boxed then. "Well, that's that. Is your winter cloak still in good shape, or do you need another of those as well?"   
  
It had been fine the last time he'd worn it, and since it had no sleeves to bother him he didn't mind if it was a little short. However, he'd forgotten to bring it with him when he'd fled the Dursley house and he knew that after their last confrontation there was no way his uncle would send it to him _or_ let him inside to grab it himself. He'd have to sit down someday soon and think about how to sneak back in and get anything he'd want that hadn't fit in his backpack, but if he was unable to do so he really didn't want to go cold all winter long. "Yeah, I'll need a new one. Thanks for reminding me. Oh, and could I also get a pair of black summer robes? The kind with temperature-adjusting spells on them?" He'd seen those for sale before, and figured he might as well get some so that he wouldn't look like a prat for wandering around in school robes all summer. True, he could just not bother wearing robes at all and just stick to muggle clothing, but he didn't want to put up with the more prejudiced residents of the Alley assuming from a distance that he was muggleborn and hassling him.   
  
He was a little surprised when he realised that he was thinking of staying there all summer as if it was a given, even though he'd have no where to stay for god knew how long other then Percy's room, then pushed that out of his mind as something else he'd need to think about later.   
  
"It's no trouble," he realised Madam Malkin was saying while he was lost in thought. "Just give me one moment." It really was just a minute or two, and Harry found himself wishing he knew the spells she used to stitch the fabric together so quickly. It wouldn't be much help during the summer since he wasn't yet old enough to do magic on his own, but during the school year it would certainly be useful to fix tears in his clothing with the flick of the wand instead of needing to pull out a needle and thread while Seamus and Dean made fun off him for doing girls work. Thankfully Ron and Neville never joined it, Ron mostly because Harry would take care of his clothes too to spare him from the teasing and Harry presumed Neville stayed out of it because he was either too nice or too used to being taunted himself to want to join in. They'd never actually discussed it for him to know for sure which, if either, assumption was right.   
  
When Madam Malkin was done she turned to Harry and said, "Will you be carrying these with you?"   
  
"No. Could you have them sent to room 502 at the Leaky Cauldron?"   
  
"Of course. Then that'll be a galleon sixteen sickles for your order, and two knuts for the delivery."   
  
Harry dug the coins out of his money pouch, then said good-bye and left. His next stop was Flourish and Blotts. He knew he wouldn't be able to get his whole order for the year taken care of like he had with his robes; at the very least he wouldn't be able to get his DADA books unless Dumbledore had found a new professor for the year in the last two weeks and that teacher had already sent their booklist in. Considering that people now considered the position to be cursed and didn't want anything to do with it, he really doubted that had happened. He wouldn't buy potions books yet either, even though Snape probably used the same ones every year and so all he'd need to do is ask whoever was working what those books were he didn't want to waste money on them if it turned out he didn't get an O on his OWLs and wouldn't be able to get in. The same with Transfiguration, although if he hadn't managed to get an EE or higher he was pretty sure Hermione would kill him for wasting all the time she spent tutoring him in it. He could get Charms and Herbology books though, and even though he knew he must have failed his Divination OWL he also knew there was no OWL requirement to get into Trelawny's NEWT classes. He was willing to bet that both Hermione and Percy would give him an earful for not dropping the class, but he really didn't want to give up all the midday naps and cups of tea that being in it allowed him. He may have all the second sight of a headless ant, but when Trelawny wasn't busy predicting his death the class was surprisingly restful.   
  
He found it easy enough to get all those books, but when he was checking out he noticed the proprietor slip another into his bag with them. After the events of his second year, this immediately set him on his guard. "What was that?" he said, reaching for his wand.   
  
The man glanced nervously about, before replying, "What was what, Mr. Potter?"   
  
Harry glared at him, and the mans courage wilted almost visibly. "That book you slipped in with mine?"   
  
"Shh, shh!" He hushed, then glanced around again before pulling the top of the book just far enough out of the bag for Harry to read the title, Detection of and Defense Against the Darkest Arts. "Dumbledore's told me to give it to you when you stopped in for your books," he mumbled almost to low for Harry to hear him. "If they find out I've given a copy to a minor I'll be facing the Wizengamot for sure, but he thought it was best you study what's in it and, well, if you're expected to face Voldemort at your age I agree. As soon as you're out of here Dumbledore'll take all blame if you're caught with it, but if someone notices I've given it to you while you're still in here there's no helping me."   
  
Harry lowered his voice to the same tone, "What's so bad about it if it's just about defending yourself."   
  
"What's so bad is that the author thought you need to understand the principles behind _casting_ dark magic to know how to adequately defend yourself. The folks in charge don't want underaged kids knowing those sorts of things. There's a letter in it from Dumbledore that I assume tells you what he wants you to learn from it. Now, get out of here before someone notices us acting suspicious and wants to know what we're doing."   
  
Harry turned to leave, then paused. "When did Dumbledore ask you to do this?" he asked in a more normal tone of voice. If Dumbledore had been planning to do this for awhile it would have made more sense for him to give it to Harry personally, since they'd just seen each other at the end of the school year a couple of weeks before. And if he'd just thought of it since then it would have made more sense for him to send it by owl, since by the time Harry normally got his schoolbooks it would be so late in the summer that there'd barely be anytime to study it outside of school and he again might as well have just waited for the school year to have started and given it to Harry in person.   
  
"Why, just last evening. He owled and let me know you'd likely be in within the next few days. Didn't you let him know you were planning on coming here?"   
  
"Oh. Well then, thank you." Harry felt a little stupid for even thinking that he'd need to write Dumbledore to let him know where he was. _Of course_ he already knew. He always knew everything Harry did, so why should this be any different? He had to admit he was happy with the tacit approval of his staying there he'd just been given. If Dumbledore was writing ahead to make sure he got a book he'd need instead of sending half the Order to drag him home then that meant he could probably hang around as long as he wanted as long as everything stayed the way it was.   
  
_If_ Dumbledore had really sent the book. He knew he wouldn't be touching it until after he'd gotten Tonks to check it for traps when they met for lunch. He might have faith in Dumbledore omniscience, but that didn't make him an idiot. "Constant vigilance!" he murmured to himself under his breath, then snorted. It was a little amazing to him to think that just five years before the worst he could imagine being done to a book was Dudley sticking gum to its pages, and now he couldn't stop running over all the various curses and other spells he knew of that might have been cast on it in an attempt to kill or capture him.   
  
He didn't have anything else that he needed to buy, so he headed back to the Cauldron. When he got back to the room he carefully shoved his bag of books on top of one of the suspended cabinets so that if Percy stopped there for lunch before Tonks checked them there wouldn't be any chance of him looking through them and getting hurt if the book _was_ bespelled somehow. Then he turned to the box of robes. He carefully lifted the top and tipped the robes out with the tip of his wand then counted the robes just in case. There were only the ones he'd ordered, and although he knew that wasn't a sure sign that they were safe he was getting sick of being suspicious and just grabbed one of the summer robes and traded his old school robe for it. He could immediately feel the difference the temperature adjusting spells made, he'd been feeling a little hot, not enough to bother doing anything about it but enough to make him a little uncomfortable, then within seconds of pulling on the robe he was feeling pleasantly cool. He decided to take a second to do a test, grabbed a piece of ice out of the fridge, and pressed it against his leg through the robe. For a second he could feel the freezing cold on his thigh, then the robe adjusted itself again around that area, and while he thought he could still feel it a little it just cooled the warm area to the same temperature as the rest of his body. He thought he might want to see if it was possible to make it a little warmer, but even as is he thought they'd be comfortable in the winter so long as he made sure to wear his cloak over them to make up for the short sleeves.   
  
Test done he took off the robes again and rolled up his sleeves, turning to face the sink. He hadn't had time to clean up that morning since they had to rush off, and now the leftover eggs were caked to the pan and the bacon grease had solidified. He knew he should have cleaned up after himself before sitting down and eating, but at first he thought he probably had plenty of time to do it after he'd finished up, then they'd had to get out of there before he'd had a chance to. He grimaced as he set to work on them. For all that Percy had seemed to want a fully stocked kitchen he didn't seem that interested in cleaning supplies; all Harry was able to find were some washcloths and soap when what he really needed was some steel wool. It wasn't really surprising, he remembered the way Mrs. Weasley did the dishes easily enough and knew that if Percy ever did do any cooking he'd clean up with magic as well. For a second he tried cleaning with them, then he ran downstairs and hunted down Tom.   
  
"Steel wool. Got any?" he said when he found him.   
  
"Hello again to you too, Harry," Tom replied. He stood up and began lumbering back toward the kitchen, Harry following close at his heels. "Steel wool? I could just send someone up to scourgify whatever it is you need cleaned you know."   
  
"No thank you. I want to take care of it myself."   
  
"Alright then." When they reached the kitchen Harry waited by the bar for him to come back. A few long minutes passed before he came back with a large mess of the stuff. It wasn't the brillo pads he'd been hoping for, but it would be a world better then trying to scrub off dried, caked-on egg with a washcloth. "You're lucky, I had some left over from a few years back when I let my nephew have a summer job here. He was underaged and had to do everything by hand, so we needed to keep some around. It was a bit rusty, but I scourgified _it_."   
  
"Thanks Tom. You're a lifesaver." He dashed back upstairs and immediately went at the dishes before the filth could cake in more. He gulped down cups coffee as he scrubbed away, not actually needing a pick-me-up, or liking the taste, but not wanting to waste it. With the steel wool to help things went much easier then they otherwise would have, and it only took him about fifteen minutes before the kitchen was as spotless as it had been when he'd arrived. In fact, it was a little cleaner then it had been since he took an extra minute to dust the place down.   
  
There was still a good three-quarters of an hour to kill before he had to meet Tonks, so for the lack of anything better to do he wandered back into the Alley and to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Within what seemed like seconds after walking through the door Florean had lead him to a seat, served him a free sundae, and was asking if there was anything new he'd like to know about medieval wizardry, for all the world as though Harry was still hanging around from the summer before his third year. At first he tried insisting that he really didn't need any help with history, but was soon caught up in one of Florean's stories about the past. Harry secretly harbored the belief that Dumbledore should make Binns start haunting like a normal ghost and instead hire Florean; the same history that bored him to sleep when he heard it from Binns was somehow exciting and engrossing when it came from the jovial wizard.   
  
They were deeply immersed in a discussion about a was that had taken place in the 1200s between the centaurs and merpeople when they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind Harry. Brought back to the present by the sound he suddenly realised that they'd been talking for a good long while, and he was pretty sure he knew who it must be behind him. "Tonks?" he said.   
  
"Mm-hm."   
  
"What time is it?"   
  
"About twenty after one."   
  
"Oh." He looked to Florean for help, but he just seemed amused and not in the least inclined to jump in. "I lost track of time."   
  
"So I gathered."   
  
"Would it help if I apologised?"   
  
"Maybe."   
  
"Well, I'm sorry."   
  
"Mm." He was just about to turn around and see how angry she looked when she smacked him upside the head so hard that his face almost went into the dregs of his sundae. "You prat," she said. She didn't really sound that angry, but he couldn't tell if it was really because she wasn't angry, or if she was just very carefully keeping herself under control and was going to blow up at him any second. "Did you ever think that since you were attacked just last night I might think when you were late that they'd tried again and managed to get you? And maybe that since I was the one who let you wander off unsupervised I might feel a wee bit guilty and, oh, maybe a tad worried when you didn't show up on schedule?"   
  
Harry's eyes widened when he realised exactly how he'd feel if he'd been in her situation with one of his friends, and felt far more then just a 'wee bit' guilty. "Oh hell Tonks, I'm sorry. I didn't even think of that. I didn't mean to worry you."   
  
"Well then, it's a good thing that you didn't then."   
  
Now he spun around to face her, and the smirk on her face was more then enough to let him know he'd been had. "Ok, what time is it really?"   
  
"Five to one. I caught sight of you through the window, and could tell just by looking at you that you had no idea what time it was, so I just _had_ to take advantage of the situation. I hope you realise though that if I hadn't seen you and you _had_ taken that long to show up that wouldn't have been an act, and I would have hit you _much_ harder."   
  
"I assumed as much. So, ready for lunch?" He stood and reach for his money just incase Florean decided to start charging him that day, but was waved off with a smile so they just walked out of the building.   
  
"I'm absolutely ravenous. Now Harry, as we're going out to lunch together you've overlooked your solemn duty as my male escort."   
  
"Huh?" The look he gave her made it clear he thought she was nuts, and that he had no idea what she was talking about.   
  
"You need to give me a compliment over my wonderful muggle-chic outfit. I don't dress like this everyday you know, and I'd like to hear from someone who actually lives among muggles that I won't stick out like a sore thumb."   
  
He turned and looked her over, not really knowing what to say. Other then her hair, which was still bright green, he'd never look at her twice if he passed her on the muggle streets, but that didn't seem like the sort of thing that she'd want to hear. She'd even changed her eyes to a perfectly normal shade of brown. Finally he just said, "You look great, Tonks. If you catch anyone staring it won't be because you're wearing something out of place." That seemed like it would work.   
  
To his embarrassment she patted him on the head when he'd finished speaking. "Good boy. If I were actually a girl who was going out somewhere with you I may want to come up with something a bit more quickly then that, and depending on who I am I might be a bit upset at your implying you have no problem with other guys ogling me, but that was pretty good for a beginner. Of course, some girls aren't all that interested in getting complimented, but we can save that topic for later." She began walking towards the Cauldron again while he stood their stupidly for a long moment, then had to trot to catch back up.   
  
"What the hell was that, some sort of test?" he asked when he caught back up with her.   
  
"Some sort," she agreed. "I've heard that in the past you haven't been that good at handling the girls who were interested in you, and thought I might give you a few pointers."   
  
"Well cut it out, will you? I just want to have lunch and go shopping with a friend, not worry everytime you ask me something that it's part of some ridicules 'what does a girl want to hear' test."   
  
"Is that really what you want?" At his emphatic nod she laughed and said, "Alright then. I just thought you might want some advice from someone with a few years on you, but if you don't want to hear it that's fine. It'll make my day a little easier at least."   
  
They reached the Cauldron, but when she started to turn to grab a table Harry snagged her by the sleeve and tugged her towards the stairs. "Come up to the room. There's something I want you to see."   
  
"Harry, dear, I know I just said I'd stop this, but just for your information this is what we call 'moving too fast.' It's not something you want to make a habit of doing."   
  
He glared at her over her shoulder briefly before turning his attention back to the stairs. "Get your mind out of the gutter Tonks. I need you to check a book I got to see if it's cured or something."   
  
She straightened up immediately and began to walk a bit more briskly. "Any reason you think it might be, or is it just a hunch?"   
  
"Well, the man at Flourish and Blotts tried to shove it into my bag without my noticing, when I didn't ask for it. Considering that the last time something like that happened to someone I know the book in question turned out to be a journal that almost incarnated a young Voldemort I think I have every reason to be suspicious."   
  
"Damn right you do. Did you question him about it? What did he say?"   
  
"He says that Dumbledore wrote him and told him to slip it to me. Apparently it's not supposed to be sold to kids, but he thought I needed it, and it needed to be slipped to me on the sly because until it was out of the store he'd be arrested if he was caught selling it to me, but now that I'm out of it Dumbledore'll take credit if I'm caught with it." He thought that over for a second then added, "Um, I can trust you not to tell anyone about it if it turns out to be legitimate, right?"   
  
"Of course you can. If Dumbledore thinks you need to learn whatever's in that book then I'm not going to question him. And it certainly sounds like the sort of thing he'd do. So, what did you do after that?"   
  
"I just brought it back here. Since he handled the bag I knew that even if something had been done to the book it hadn't spread to it on contact. I was careful not to touch the book itself, and I put it up so that if Percy came home before you got here and I wasn't around he wouldn't come into contact with it. Then I waited around until it was time to meet up with you, since I knew you'd know what to do to figure out if something's wrong with it."   
  
"Good. You're good at thinking things through when you need to be, that'll serve you well if you ever join us as an auror. Now, lead me to that book."   
  
He guided he up to the room, and once there fished the bag back off the cabinet and tipped it upside down so the books fell on the ground. "That one," he said, pointing at the defense book."   
  
Tonks, who had been watching him, looked a bit pained. "Great. Now, for future reference, _never_ just drop a possibly cursed item on the ground. You never know when they've been set to explode if jolted, and you could have just blown the two of us sky high."   
  
"Oh," he said as she set to work. "Well, I'll keep that in mind in the future." He carefully sat down as far away from where Tonks was working as he could get while still staying him the world, careful not to make any suddenly movements. He didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling more then a little shaken by the thought of how close he might have just been to killing them both.   
  
Tonks worked quickly and efficiently, and Harry found himself engrossed with trying to keep up with what all she was doing and working out why each spell was important when it wasn't something really obvious. Some of the spells were ones he'd already learned for curse detecting, others he'd never heard of and had to try to figure out the uses of from the name alone, and most interesting to him were variations of ones he already knew but had never been known could be of any used like that. After almost five minutes she straighten up and tossed the book to him. "It's clean. Apparently Dumbledore really does want you to study it. Pretty difficult stuff though; we aren't even expected to read it until halfway through our second year of training. If you need any help with it feel free to hunt me down and I'll see when I'm free to come over and help you study."   
  
"I'll keep that in mind." Her throwing the book dislodged the letter from Dumbledore, and he pulled it out of the book. "Mind if I read this before going down to eat?"   
  
"Sure. I'll go grab us a table, come and join me when you're done alright?"   
  
"Yeah. I'll just be a minute." He waited for her to leave, then opened up the letter. It was just one short page.   
  
------   
  
Harry,   
I have just been sent word of the attack on your home. While I am proud that you managed to escape to safety unscathed, I'm greatly concerned over the fact that Voldemort is clearly moving more quickly then I suspected. I had thought you would be safely back within Hogwarts before he regained enough power to risk a direct attack.   
In light of these events, I've decided it's time you learn the lessons that are within this book. I wish that I could wait another year until you come of age to assign it to you, but time is of the essence and we cannot afford to wait. Feel free to write to me at any time with any questions you have about the subject matter or, if you choose to stay in the Alley, I'm any of the Order members who work in the Ministry would be happy to help. I shall be writing to them soon to let them know to be expecting you.   
As for you accommodations, if you wish to continue staying with Mr. Weasley at the Leaky Cauldron that's perfectly acceptable, so long as you remain cautious whenever you leave the building. If it's your desire to stay at the Burrow that can also be arranged, and if you feel it would be safest we would even welcome you at Hogwarts this summer. Of course, it's completely understandable if a young man of your age doesn't want to stuck in this drafty old castle all summer. I trust you will make what you feel is the right decision.   
Albus Dumbledore   
  
------   
  
Harry flipped through the book for a second, then shoved the letter back into it and took it to the bedroom where he shoved it deep into his backpack, knowing that Percy wouldn't dig around in it without his permission. While he'd been surprisingly decent to spend time with during the past day Harry knew he was still Percy, and more likely then not would take it from him, and get Dumbledore into he didn't know how much trouble for buying it for him, the second he saw it rather then allow the rules to be broken.   
  
That done he turned and left the room, going to join Tonks for lunch. 


End file.
